With the close of the candidate filing period on Jan. 9, a clearer picture has emerged of the county-level electoral landscape heading into Kentucky’s 2026 primary election.
As of Jan. 13, 2026, there were a total of 2,994 active candidates* for county-elected offices, according to the Secretary of State’s searchable database, which can be viewed here.
Breakdown by party and office
Among the 2,994 candidates, 21.5% are Democrat (644), 78.2% are Republican (2,342) and .3% are Independent (8).
The county office with the most candidates is magistrate/commissioner with 1,476 candidates, followed by judge/executive with 328 candidates.
The county with the most candidates is Pike County, with 53 total candidates for county office, followed by Breathitt (48) and Bell (44). Greenup and Lyon counties have the fewest number of candidates, each with 11 active filings.
| Office | Democrat | Independent | Republican | Total |
| Circuit Court Clerk** | 3 | 3 | ||
| Coroner | 41 | 132 | 173 | |
| County Attorney | 37 | 97 | 134 | |
| County Clerk | 43 | 134 | 177 | |
| Jailer | 40 | 218 | 258 | |
| Judge / Executive | 70 | 1 | 257 | 328 |
| Magistrate/Commissioner | 307 | 7 | 1162 | 1476 |
| PVA | 43 | 106 | 149 | |
| Sheriff | 63 | 233 | 296 | |
| Total | 644 | 8 | 2342 | 2994 |
In Kentucky primary elections, if only one candidate files for a party’s nomination for a given office, that candidate will not appear on the primary ballot.
View the 2026 election calendar here.
Uncontested judge/executive races
In 66 counties, no Democrat candidates have filed for judge/executive, and in an additional 43 counties, only one Democrat candidate has filed. That means eleven counties have contested primaries for Democrat judge/executive candidates.
On the Republican side, four counties (Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson and Rowan) have no Republican candidates filed for judge/executive. In each of these counties, the Democrat incumbent has filed for re-election. In 40 counties, only one Republican candidate has filed. Consequently, 76 counties will have a contested Republican primary for judge/executive.
* This summary includes analysis of the following offices, which are representative members of KACo:
- Circuit Court Clerk
- Coroner
- County Attorney
- County Clerk
- Jailer
- Judge / Executive
- Magistrate/Commissioner – see note
- PVA
- Sheriff
Note: Excluded from this analysis are magistrate/justice of the peace positions in counties with a county commissioner form of government, as these offices are not members of the county fiscal court. Fifteen counties operate with a commissioner form of government.
**There are three candidates for circuit court clerk, running for unexpired terms. Circuit court clerks serve six-year terms.
